A Star Is Born: The Making of the 1954 Movie and Its 1983 Restoration by Ronald Haver Page B

Unless I get my way, I begin to break up people and
things." Later, he warns Esther that she must not be in love with him: "You
come too late ... I'm a bad lot, I destroy everything I touch."
    "I never grew up," Flynn stated in his autobiography, and a childlike
quality is another thing that separates the new Maine from the 1937
original; it's emphasized by his manservant's remark "He'll smile in his sleep in a minute ... like a child" ("Like a child with a blowtorch," observes
Matt Libby) and reiterated near the end by Vicki, who tells Niles: "He
looks so helpless lying there ... like a child." Maine's childlike vulnerability
is most evident in Hart's rewrite of the proposal sequence, which he places
on a recording stage, where Vicki is singing "Here's What I'm Here For"
while Norman watches on the sidelines. During a choral break, she joins
him and they have an extended conversation, inaudible to the camera but,
unbeknownst to them, recorded by an overhead microphone. During the
playback of the song, their dialogue is revealed to everyone-Norman's
proposal, Vicki's refusal, her reasons ("You're irresponsible ... you drink
too much")-much to the couple's embarrassment, particularly Norman's.
His humiliation is assuaged only by Vicki's change of heart: "That's much
too public a proposal. I accept."

    Hart carries this new dimension of Maine further in the Academy Award
sequence, where instead of displaying anger and hostility, Norman humbles
himself by begging the assembled moguls for a job ("I made a lot of money
for you gentlemen once ... Now I need a job"). But it is earlier in the story
that Hart makes his strongest contribution to an audience's sympathy for
and understanding of Maine. When he hears Esther sing at the Downbeat
Club, he is struck by her talent, and tells her, "You're a great singer.
... You've got that little something extra that Ellen Terry talked about.
... She said that's what star quality was-'that little something extra.'
Well, you've got it." Later, in trying to convince her to quit the band, he
says, "A career is a curious thing. Talent isn't always enough. You need a
sense of timing-an eye for seeing the turning point, of recognizing the big
chance when it comes along and grabbing it. A career can rest on a
trifle-like us sitting here tonight. Or it can turn on somebody seeing
something in you that nobody else ever saw, and saying, 'You're better than
that-you're better than you know. Don't settle for the little dream-go
on to the big one.' " He instills in Esther a belief in herself and gives her
the confidence and courage necessary to pursue the "big dream"-stardom.
He may have started out on the make, but his speech to her and his offer
to "see what I can do for you at the studio" make his intentions understandably honorable. Even while Esther is suffering greatly after not hearing
from him, his frantic efforts to locate her from his location at sea and upon
his return make him much more sympathetic than the 1937 Maine, for we
can see that he is truly anguished at his inability to make good on his
promise.

    When he does find her, he carefully shepherds Esther through the perils
of the Hollywood jungle, taking an active hand in getting her cast in her
first major role, watching carefully in the shadows of a sound stage while
she rehearses, nervously offering comfort and advice on the way to the
preview of the film, and finally taking quiet pleasure at the vindication of
his belief in her after the triumph of this initial public screening. He is
protective and concerned but wary of becoming involved, and only does so
because of the intensity of Esther's love for him: "I've done all I can for
you. You've come along the road with me as far as you should.... Forget
about me." When she protests "Don't you know that ... nothing could
make me stop loving you?," he warns her: "You've come too late." But she
rejects this: "I don't believe that.... It's not